Michael Lombardo To Step Down As HBO President Of Programming, Segues To Producing

UPDATED: Michael Lombardo is exiting his post as president of programming for HBO where he has been an executive for more than 30 years, sources confirm. He is expected to segue to a producing deal at HBO, which is still being worked out, and do consulting for the network. There is no time line for the transition yet as Lombardo was originally expected to stay in his current job until the end of the year but that will likely change.

Sources indicate it was Lombardo’s decision to step down after serving as programming president since 2007. It is something that he had been contemplated for a while. There is no immediate replacement, with recently promoted Casey Bloys overseeing development for the pay cable network. UPDATE: Bloys will likely succeed Lombardo in the top programming job, overseeing all creative aspects of the network.

HBO is coming off a rare double win for both best comedy and best drama series at the Emmy Awards for Game Of Thrones and Veep. The network has had rough time on the drama side in the past year or so, leading to an executive shake-up spearheaded by Lombardo in January when head of drama Michael Ellenberg departed and Bloys was elevated to oversee both comedy and drama.

Lombardo has been with HBO since 1983, when he took a job in the legal department in New York. He moved on to oversee original programming and HBO Sports and was named senior counsel, original programming and sports. In September 1986, Lombardo moved to Los Angeles as director of business affairs, West Coast.

He was named HBO’s co-president in 2007 and was quickly promoted to president. Series launched by HBO during his tenure included True Blood, Boardwalk Empire,Game Of Thrones, Silicon Valley and Veep.